> It doesn't seem like nix will hold enough value before unikernels "arrive", then the problem of taking your distribution along with the program you want to deploy disappears alltogether.
Unikernels still don't solve the build problem, only the distribution. And you can get that workflow today, by shipping around container or VM images. And Nix can even build either for you!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but they do solve the build problem -- you can build static libraries way easier if you replace all the system stuff libc was doing for you with approaches like unikraft[0] or rumprun[1].
I don't have time to look at rumprun right now, but from the Unikraft page:
> The Unikraft build tool is in charge of compiling the application and the selected libraries together to create a binary for a specific platform and architecture (e.g., Xen on x86_64). The tool is currently inspired by Linux’s kconfig system and consists of a set of Makefiles. It allows users to select libraries, to configure them, and to warn users when library dependencies are not met. In addition, the tool can also simultaneously generate binaries for multiple platforms.
So it doesn't solve getting the makefiles (or presumably the source code depending on how it's organized), the compiler, or assembling multiple projects into one coherent build.
Using Make as the big unifier also sounds a bit scary, since it's so easy to screw up dependency lists or introduce accidental impurities, because it has no way to verify either.
> So it doesn't solve getting the makefiles (or presumably the source code depending on how it's organized), the compiler, or assembling multiple projects into one coherent build.
Ahh I see what you mean -- I was more thinking about the library issue, but yeah building is definitely still really hard.
I think good support for unikernels is a long time off, and will obviously vary by language -- maybe the usage that finally breaks through will be tight integration with some lower level compile tools. For example if a company were to hit GraalVM (which is really trying to push themselves as the better-than-stock VM for a bunch of languages) and LLVM as integration points for unikernels I think they could really make a convincingly easy toolchain (without modifying developers' current toolchains).
Unikernels still don't solve the build problem, only the distribution. And you can get that workflow today, by shipping around container or VM images. And Nix can even build either for you!